Searches
by avidbeader
Summary: In honor of "Shiro loves you, baby"/#he is looking at keith Day, have my brainwave of what could happen at the start of S3. Shiro has disappeared. Keith isn't taking it at all well as he tries to lead Voltron.
1. Part 1 - Keith

This is an idea that hit me out of the blue after reading another fic (which I will name in later notes so as not to spoil). It will consist of four chapters and three short interludes and I will post updates every few days.

* * *

"Lance, pull up! Goddammit, pull up!"

"Leave me alone, Mullet! I got this!"

"No, you don't! Break off!"

Keith watched in dread as Lance continued straight toward the Galra warship, tail-gun firing. The warship's fire began concentrating on the approaching target and Lance's laughter sounded over the channel.

"Told you I—"

Two energy beams clipped the Blue Lion at the same time, sending it spinning out of control.

"Lance!" Hunk and Pidge's frantic voices echoed through Keith's helmet.

"I knew it! Come on, we've gotta finish this! Pidge, you take the three! I'll take the nine! Use your tree cannon on my mark! Hunk, armor up and come from below!"

Keith flew opposite of Pidge and deployed Red's cannon. "Hunk, now!"

The Yellow Lion glowed as its armor appeared and zoomed up, crashing into the warship and sending it up and sideways.

"Pidge, now!"

From either side, the Red and Green Lions fired. Vines erupted all along the rear of the ship, taking out its propulsion. The front broke off as the middle of the ship disintegrated in the wake of the Red Lion's energy beam.

With the immediate threat neutralized, Keith tried to pull them together. The Blue Lion drifted some distance away. "Lance, Lance? Do you copy?"

There was a groan and then a more coherent "yeah".

"Hunk, can you tow Blue back to the Castle?"

"On it!"

"Princess, are there any other Galra in the area?"

"Negative. The area is clear for the moment."

"Okay, let's get back."

* * *

Allura was in the conference room they used for debriefings, slumped forward with her head in her hands. Pidge arrived before Keith and sat, pulling up her vambrace display to record her observations of the Galra ship and its weaknesses for future use. Keith entered the room and yanked off his helmet, resisting the urge to fling it into a corner.

Hunk and Lance arrived together, Hunk keeping one arm around his friend. Allura sat up at that. "Lance, are you injured?"

"I think he's okay, just got stunned from those lasers. But we can check him out after this." Hunk helped Lance sit.

Lance grinned loopily at the princess. "Just taking one for the team!"

 _That is it._ Keith slammed one fist on the table. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed if they'd concentrated their fire better!"

Lance stiffened at that. "I was just doing what you do! You draw fire all the time!"

"Because I know I'm not likely to get hit!"

"Yeah, we know! We know! You're the genius pilot and I'm just a seventh-wheel guy who should never have gotten past cargo class!"

"What? Lance, no! _The Red Lion is smaller and faster._ It's not about piloting skills, it's about using the best tool for the job. If you had stayed back, we could have used your sonic cannon as our first attack and disabled the ship immediately."

 _Is this how Shiro felt? The headache forming behind his eyes as he tried to present things logically to an illogical group? Of course not; we didn't argue with him like this._

Lance's face turned mulish. "Whatever. If you hadn't been shouting at me and breaking my focus, it would have worked! Who made you leader anyway?"

The air around the table seemed to disappear as everyone froze. Keith swallowed hard, remembering the conversations with Shiro and willing himself not to cry, not here.

"Shiro did. He said two different times that he wanted me to lead the group if something happened to him."

"When? I don't remember that vote happening!"

"Voting's not part of a monarchy…" Pidge joked in a stage whisper, tilting her head at Allura.

Lance whirled on the princess. "Did you okay this? Did you decide that Keith should be the leader? 'Cause I don't see _him_ piloting Black!"

Pidge put her head on the table and groaned as her words had the opposite effect from her intentions.

Allura's eyes widened at Lance's accusation, then narrowed. "Calm yourself, Blue Paladin. You know as well as I do that the Lions choose their pilots."

"Then we can ask Black! Let's all go down and see what Black says!" Hunk's hands were out, fingers fluttering anxiously as he tried to defuse the argument.

"Yes, we should probably do that. But, Keith," Allura turned to him, "when did Shiro say this?"

"The first time was when we were stranded on that unstable rock of a planet after the corrupted wormhole. He was pretty sure he was going to die before anyone got to us. The second time was when he and I were on our way to the Blade of Marmora headquarters."

"There's only your word that those conversations happened!" Lance accused.

"So now I'm a liar, too?"

"Well, you kept being _half-Galra_ a secret for ages, so yeah?"

"I DIDN'T KNOW!" Keith shouted at the top of his lungs, powered by the old fears and pain of suspecting his origins, learning the truth and yet nothing at the same time, with only Shiro by his side as it happened…

He turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose to hold the tears in. Allura cleared her throat.

"All right, we are all clearly on edge over the situation. Quickly, is there any new information to be added to our knowledge from this battle?"

Pidge shook her head. "No, princess. Just another mid-size warship. But bringing out our big guns sooner when we run into small groups of them is probably the way to go until we can form Voltron again."

"Agreed," Keith managed to get the word out without his voice breaking.

At that, Allura nodded. "Dismissed. We will gather in the Black Lion's bay in one _varga_."

* * *

Keith got out of his armor and took a shower before getting dressed. When he picked up his belt, he paused and pulled out his dagger, the sigil on the hilt long since left uncovered. As he watched, it shimmered and grew into his blade.

The unanswered questions weighed on him. Kolivan had returned to the Blade of Marmora headquarters and Slav had gone with him, claiming the resources there would allow him a much higher chance of determining Shiro's whereabouts and at the same time let him improve his gravity generators and replace the one that had hidden Ulaz's outpost.

Keith still didn't know how much of his ancestry was Galra. He still didn't know what the connection was between him and the Blades. All he knew was _Galra blood runs in your veins._

One answer leading to a hundred more questions. And he didn't have a clue where to start looking.

Just like he had no clue where to find Shiro.

Again.

He thought back to that moment before they had gone off on their separate missions. The hand-clasp that had turned into a hug that had lingered, neither one of them wanting to let go of the other. And that moment, the night before the Kerberos mission, where he thought Shiro was about to ask Keith to wait for him…

The sword glowed and shrank back to its dagger form as Keith covered his eyes with his free hand and finally let the tears fall.

* * *

They gathered in the hangar, looking at the inert form of the Black Lion. For a long moment, nobody moved or spoke. Then Lance broke the silence.

"So what happens now? Is it like when we found the Blue Lion? We knock?" He strode forward to the muzzle and rapped on it.

Keith winced.

Nothing happened. Lance scowled, but retreated, ignoring the disapproving glares from Allura and Coran.

"Pidge, you try." Hunk pushed her forward gently.

She snorted at the idea that Black would choose her, but stepped forward and laid one hand on Black's paw. "Um, hi there. We kind of need your help to find Shiro. What do we have to do?"

Nothing. Pidge bit her lip and moved back.

Taking a deep breath, Hunk advanced and put his hand in the same place as Pidge before closing his eyes and bowing his head. Keith could see the reluctance on his face as he waited.

With a deep sigh and a slump of his shoulders, Hunk looked up into the Lion's face and returned to the group.

Lance's brow furrowed. He spat, "Okay, then, _Keith_. Looks like she's all yours."

Keith shook his head. "What about Allura? Or Coran?"

Coran gave one short, barking laugh. "I highly doubt it would be me. The Red Lion made it very clear on Taujeer that I was not paladin material."

Keith looked at Allura, who met his eyes and nodded. She approached the Lion and laid one hand on the muzzle.

Her hand began to glow a pale pink and for a brief second the Lion's eyes seemed to spark. Keith felt a surge of hope that this would somehow be the answer, in spite of the difficulties it would cause.

But the spark and the glow faded and Allura let out a soft groan of disappointment. She turned to Keith with a stricken look.

"It has to be you, Keith."

He shook his head, feeling his eyes sting. Hunk put a hand to his shoulder. Allura, still touching the Lion, held her other hand out to him.

"Oh, come on, you emo jerk! Stop making a production out of it!" Lance threw up his hands and stormed out. Allura glanced at Coran, who nodded and followed him.

Pidge stepped up to Keith's other side and took his arm. "It's okay, Keith. We need to know."

Keith swallowed hard but let them lead him over to Allura and Black. He stepped forward and put one hand to the Lion's muzzle. He bowed his head, remembering, and repeated the words he had used once before.

"I know I'm not Shiro, but he's in trouble. We need to help him."

Black's eyes flashed. She lifted her head and roared.

* * *

Red would not respond to him. The space where she had filled his mind was aching and empty.

But she would not respond to anyone else. Her particle barrier was up and no amount of entreaty would budge it.

The situation was worse than ever. They had lost the tactical advantage of Red's speed and they still couldn't form Voltron. Keith was torn to shreds: the severed link with Red was a constant throb in his head but the link with Black was shaky. Black seemed hugely offended that Keith wanted Red's presence and indifferent to his desperate need to find Shiro. Keith had yet to duplicate whatever power it was that Shiro had used to retrieve the black bayard from Zarkon.

The team was falling into factions. Coran seemed to make it his mission to support Lance through his turmoil and while Hunk obviously wanted Lance and Keith to make amends, he physically stayed with Lance more.

Pidge rarely left Keith's side other than sleeping, showering, or when they were in the Lions. She would join him on the training deck or bring her laptop with her current project to wherever he was. When the entire group was together, Allura had Keith stand next to her and made it pointedly clear with her tone and expressions that she considered him the leader of Voltron.

But nothing helped. Lance continued to either avoid Keith altogether or snipe at him verbally when the princess wasn't in the room. The only time they could keep it together was in battle.

They continued to pick off single warships and small groups. As of yet there had been no news spreading through the Empire that Zarkon was dead, but there had been rumors of heirs being summoned. The possibility that it had all been for nothing, that Zarkon had survived while Shiro had not, haunted Keith's thoughts and chased him into his dreams.

* * *

Keith was in the large dining room, three different display tablets set in front of him. He was trying to coordinate the latest intel from the Blades with the castle's archives to create an up-to-date database of the areas they had been through so far. For once, he was alone.

Black poked at him sulkily.

 _You know what I mean. No Lance holding his grudge. No Hunk fretting because we can't get past the situation. No Pidge trying to distract me into feeling better. No Allura overcompensating for how she closed me out before._

He could see that they were coming apart at the seams without Shiro and no matter what he tried, he couldn't stop it.

 _God, Shiro, where are you?_

He leaned forward on his elbows, putting his head in his hands.

The sound of laser fire in the distance jerked him to his feet, drawing his dagger out and expanding it. When the sound faded, he moved over to the controls that would bring up communication within the castle. "Allura? Coran? What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Allura's face appeared on the comm screen.

"I thought I heard gunfire from my location."

Coran's voice echoed behind her. "I think Hunk and Lance were going to train. They must be using their bayards."

Keith drew a deep breath, trying to get his heart rate to settle. "That must be it. Sorry to worry you."

He moved back to the table, but before he could sit, Pidge charged into the room with her laptop. "Keith! Keith!"

Her voice echoed oddly, warring between excitement and fear.

"Pidge?"

"I think I've found a way to locate my dad! I got enough data from the various prisoner records we've gathered to predict the number ID system they use and going by Shiro's number, I have a set of possibilities to try! If we can get on board a Galra ship long enough to access one of their records hubs, I can search for these specific numbers! I mean, I might find Matt's records too, but since he's been busted out of prison I don't know what I can do with that information if I find it."

Lance poked his head in, hearing her enthusiasm.

 _Wasn't he supposed to be on the training deck?_

Keith put his hands on her shoulders. "Whoa, wait a minute. The last time we tried getting access to Galra data we lost Allura. That's too much of a risk."

Pidge waved him off. "This will be different! You can access the controls without tipping them off—they only caught Shiro because he was a former prisoner. And we can try that strategy you mentioned, having Lance knock out all their systems with his sonic cannon long enough for you and me to sneak on board in Green!"

"I don't know, Pidge. There's still so many things that could go wrong."

Lance glared at him. "If she had a lead on Shiro, you'd do it."

Keith's head jerked up at that. "What?"

"Don't play dumb. If Pidge was proposing this in order to find Shiro, you'd be halfway to the control room by now."

"No, I wouldn't! We'd need to go over the situation carefully first, make a plan—"

"Okay then, _leader_. What's the plan?"

Keith glanced at Pidge, who was staring at him with wide eyes. She already looked hurt at the possibility that he would act on Shiro's behalf, but not her father's.

He grabbed her laptop in one hand and her arm in the other. "Come on, let's go talk to Allura, since Lance here has nothing to offer." Pidge's expression brightened immediately. As he led her out, he made a point of brushing past Lance, who hissed some insult at him in Spanish.

Keith ignored him. He had more important things to worry about.

* * *

 _Best laid plans…_

Keith kept his focus on the sentries in front of him, trusting Pidge to let him know if she needed him. Everything had worked smoothly for the first part of the plan: they had found a single Galra battleship, Lance had temporarily disabled it, they had snuck on board with Green, Pidge had located a terminal, Keith had unlocked it. Lance and Hunk had started leading the ship on a merry chase around an asteroid patch while they worked.

And then they were spotted by a single guard out of place because he had stopped to adjust some bit of armor.

Keith had brought the guard down, but not before he had opened his comm to alert the ship. This was the third wave of sentries but so far they were in small groups and falling to the sweeps of his bayard and blade. He had taken a few minor hits and thought he could keep this up a little longer, but Pidge had sworn she only had a handful of numbers to search… "Pidge! How many more?"

"Two more!" The despair in her voice was gut-wrenching.

Keith gulped in air and lunged, sending the red-and-white sword through one of the two remaining sentries while slashing the other with the Galra blade. And then he spotted the guard at the end of the hall, taking aim with a rifle—

"Pidge! Move!" He tried to bring his shield up but his blade was in the way, slowing him down.

She looked up, startled, just as the bolt hit her. Keith screamed a denial, barely aware of Lance and Hunk shouted their confusion at him. He flung his blade and it hummed as it spun through the air, getting the guard in the neck before sailing back to his hand. He stowed both weapons and scooped Pidge up in his arms.

"Hunk! Lance! Heading back to the Green Lion! Attack the ship!"

He ran for Green, holding Pidge close. At least she was breathing. At least the blast had hit her arm and shoulder, not her chest. At least she had been able to work from the tech in her vambrace instead of bringing a laptop. At least the way back to Green was clear.

He made it to the Lion, carrying Pidge up to the cockpit. He took the pilot's chair, keeping her on his lap, and laid one hand on a steering column.

"Green, please! Can you get us back to the castle?"

For one agonizing moment Green didn't move. Then Pidge groaned and laid her hand on the other steering column. "Please, girl…"

Green roared and blasted a hole in the hull of the ship, leaping out into starry space.

* * *

Once Pidge was safely in a cryo-pod, Keith followed Allura to the debriefing room. Lance and Hunk were already seated, both looking tired but unhurt.

Allura sat and looked at them. "Status?"

Hunk replied first. "Yellow and Blue have some minimal damage, but I can have them back up to speed in a couple of days. Faster if Pidge gets out of the pod and helps me."

Allura shook her head. "I wouldn't count on it."

Keith sat up at that. "What? But it was a shoulder injury!"

"It was a shoulder injury that fractured bones and pierced a lung. She might have died if you hadn't got her back here so quickly."

Keith felt his face drain of color at that. He hadn't felt any broken bones when he carried her. Had he made a bad situation worse by moving her?

"Okay, that's a bit not good. Do you know if she found her dad?" Lance glared at Keith.

He swallowed. "No, I don't think she did. She was almost at the end of her list of numbers when that guard shot her."

"So it was all for nothing. We've got damaged Lions and a teammate out of commission for days because you went with her plan!"

"Wait, _you_ were the one that said we should try it! Why are you blaming me now?"

"No, I just pointed out that if it were Shiro you wouldn't have even taken the time to lay out a plan. You'd've just gone for it. Because you won't let go of the idea that he's still alive!"

" _Lance!_ That is enough!" Allura snapped at him and he turned his glare onto her.

"Is it? Do _you_ think Shiro's still alive?"

Allura looked like he had slapped her. "I…I don't know. I don't understand why the Lions are reacting the way they are. Black accepted Keith but the bond doesn't feel solid."

Keith added, "It feels like when she let me in to help Shiro before—"

"Whoa, whoa, wait just a quiznaking minute! You piloted Black before?"

"I said so at the time! When we got tossed from the wormhole onto that stupid rock of a planet, Shiro was being attacked by a group of monsters! I asked Black to let me in so we could help him and she did!"

"And I remember you asking Coran all kinds of questions about Blue! And now you've flown Green! You won't be satisfied until you've got access to all five Lions!"

They all stared at Lance. Keith simply could not formulate a response to Lance's unfathomable leaps. He hadn't really flown Green – she only responded after Pidge touched the controls. He _didn't_ have access to Red – she had disconnected from him the minute Black responded to him. Why didn't Lance realize these things?

Unfortunately, Lance took his silence for assent. "Yeah, thought so. Princess, I think we need to visit some of our allies and see if we can find a couple new paladins. You're going to have to replace Shiro no matter what. And you have to replace either me or Keith, because I'm not working with him anymore." He stood and looked over at Hunk, who had a stunned look on his face. "You coming?"

Hunk stood but waited until Lance had stalked out of the room. "It's got to be his temper talking. I'll try to get him to calm down." He gave Keith a glance filled with uncertainty and left as well.

Allura looked at Keith, her expression stricken.

He shook his head. "I don't know what to do anymore. Shiro should never have chosen me to lead." He turned and left the room.

* * *

Keith retreated to his room and cleaned up, changing into his jeans and T-shirt and slinging his belt around his waist. It was late enough to go to sleep, but he knew there would be no rest for him tonight. He made his way back to the cryo-pods and found Coran there, looking over the readouts for Pidge as she stood inside a pod, frozen and mending.

"Ah, hello there, Number Four."

Keith smiled a little at that. Coran had not re-numbered them in his ordered-by-height nicknames.

"How is she?"

"It was a pretty nasty injury, but she'll recover." Coran shifted the display back to its normal screen. "I'm sorry to hear she didn't find any information."

Keith's memory raced to the moment she had been shot and he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to force it away. "Me, too. I'm not sure when we're going to be able to try that again."

Coran raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Try again? Have you gotten into the Nunvill?"

Keith frowned at him. "It's the best lead on Pidge's family we've got, using numbers that correlate to Shiro's—" Keith broke off, realizing.

"Keith?"

"Shiro's number…when we try again we have to include Shiro's number! If the Galra have him Pidge can get his location!"

"Oh, Keith, they don't have him. We would have heard if the Galra had reclaimed the escaped Champion."

Keith's stomach clenched at the thought of Shiro being forced back into the gladiator ring. "We won't know that until we try! And if they're still trying to heal Zarkon or decide who's in charge if he's dead, publicizing Shiro's recapture would be the last thing they're worried about!"

Coran shook his head and didn't reply as he headed out of the room. But under his breath, Keith heard him mutter, "Lance was right. He's obsessed."

It took every ounce of self-control Keith had to go to the training deck and beat up bots instead of attacking his fellow paladin.

* * *

After working the worst of his frustrations out by training, he went down to Red's hangar first, hoping that one of the other Lions might have communicated the growing rift between the paladins. Perhaps that would be enough to convince her to open up to him again. But the particle barrier remained when he touched it.

He left his hand in place and leaned against the red grid. "Please, girl. I need you. Please let me in."

A sudden bolt of pain lanced through the place in his head where Red usually resided, driving him to his knees.

She had rejected him. Again.

He staggered to his feet and left, barely aware of the tears running down his face.

 _I can't do this anymore. I have to find Shiro or die trying._

He went to Black's hangar and climbed up into her cockpit. He sat in the pilot's seat and watched as the console sprang into life. Black rumbled uneasily in his head, as if she already knew what he wanted.

"Look, I know you know what happened to Shiro. There has got to be some way for you to track him. Show me. I'll do whatever it takes to save him."

Black's rumbles grew to a warning growl.

"I don't care if it's dangerous. I don't care if it kills me, as long as we get him back."

Black snarled at that.

"You heard me! I can't lead Voltron, I've tried and failed! This is the only thing I can do to make it right! Now help me!"

Without warning, Black jettisoned him into inky space.

* * *

Thank you as always for reading!


	2. Interlude 1 - Haggar

Haggar called two more of her druids in as she began casting a magical sweep of the wreckage. Purple light flickered across the remains of the central hub, the only light in the room. Without needing to be told, the druids wove their magic and brought up shadows of what had happened here in the last few minutes.

As her own magic located what was left of Thace's body, four ghostly purple shadows sprang into being. Haggar watched as her druids surged forward toward Thace, as the fourth figure flanked them and threw a sword into one druid's back. She concentrated on the fourth figure, moving too quickly to identify clearly until the fight was over.

It was a paladin.

She waved one hand, speeding up the spell until it showed the paladin leaping into the chasm below. She knew where he must be heading and turned to the druids.

"Follow!"

She vanished in a puff of black vapor.

* * *

They appeared in the second deck tunnel. She could hear the sound of the paladin's jetpack as he flew down the shaft, approaching them.

"Quickly! A containment net!"

The two druids complied, creating the ribbons of energy designed to snare and hold a target. She pushed her own magic into it, strengthening it and—most importantly—adding the elements needed to disrupt the target's quintessence. The strands turned dark purple. She waved once more and an illusion of an empty corridor sprang up in front of them.

Just in time—the paladin dropped from above and took off toward them. She and her druids braced for the impact just before he flew into the unseen net.

As it wrapped around him it flared, cutting off his bond to his lion. The paladin immediately pushed to restore that bond and Haggar gasped at the strength he used.

"Keep it at the maximum level! It will prevent his lion from finding him until we can get him into an isolation pod!"

She felt the paladin try again, driving the pain to an intolerable level before he lost consciousness.

"Don't let up! The connection goes both ways!" The two druids levitated the paladin up and vanished with him.

Haggar pondered a moment in the near-total darkness, then sent magical bolts at the exit hatch before disappearing herself. The resulting explosion and the lack of response from the paladin's lion should convince the other paladins that this one had perished. Then the only question would be whether the Alteans remembered their lore…

* * *

In the lab, she laid her hands on the access panels, grateful that her magic was not affected by whatever had brought down power on the ship. The equipment sprang into life and several more druids entered at her call. Two of them took position to either side of her, maintaining the power as she moved to direct the others.

"Isolation pod, now!"

Three of them brought over the coffin-like contraption and opened the lid. The two druids bringing the paladin lifted their hands, ready to levitate him.

"Careful! Keep the net up until he is inside! Even a tick might be enough for the lion to find him!"

Two more druids stepped up and began moving the paladin's body into the chamber while the first two held the net. Another druid moved to close the glass lid, but looked at Haggar.

"Mistress, should we not disarm him?"

"It doesn't matter. He won't be able to do anything once I'm finished."

The druid obeyed and sealed the pod. Haggar laid her hands on the controls and focused. She needed to lay the firmest foundation for the illusion so the paladin's own mind would feed it and make it all the more real to him. She began with a plausible escape scenario, with the explosion from Thace's sabotage reaching all the way through the shafts, blasting him out into space, ready for his lion to rescue him. As her mind brushed his and she saw Champion dominating his thoughts, an idea hit her. She wove a single, momentous event into the fabric of the illusion:

 _He has vanished without a trace._

* * *

I am braced and ready for the screaming. Next chapter will be up in a day or two.

Thank you for reading!


	3. Part 2 - Shiro

**Disclaimer:** Not my characters. Just playing in Dreamworks' sandbox.

 **Note:** I'm also on Twitter and Tumblr as avidbeader. Come say hi!

* * *

"What do we do, Shiro?" Pidge's voice was sounding worried.

Just like Shiro was getting worried. The plan was on the verge of falling apart: Slav was panicking as he tried to extend the life of his gravity generator, they were having to work harder to keep the Galra command center in place as wave after wave of fighters emerged, and they hadn't heard from Keith for several minutes, since he reported that he and Thace were trying to sabotage the control hub as a workaround.

"We can't do anything. It's all up to Keith."

And just as a new wave of fighters emerged and swarmed them, the energy bolts trailed off and the Galra ships began going dark.

Shiro's heart leaped. "Kolivan!"

"The virus is up! All Galra systems are down!"

"Keith! What's your status?" Shiro called out.

"Almost there! I—" Keith's voice cut off in a strangled cry.

"Keith? Keith!"

Lance's voice interrupted his shouts. "Oh, god no! Keith!"

"What? Lance, what is it?"

"An explosion! Blew out part of the hull over here! Keith! Mullet, answer us!"

Shiro felt the blood leave his face. "Allura? Any sign of the Red Lion moving?"

"No, nothing!"

"What does that mean? Why wouldn't Red go after Keith? He's not…" Pidge couldn't bring herself to voice it.

"I don't know! The Red Lion is just sitting there…it's not moving…"

Kolivan's voice cut across hers. "We have to move _now_ , Princess! Activate the teludav!"

Shiro could hear Allura choking back sobs as the wormhole formed above them. He knew because he was doing the same.

* * *

The four lions emerged from the wormhole and flew toward the darkened ship.

"Um, Shiro? How are we going to do this without Voltron?" Lance's voice was trembling.

Shiro squared his shoulders. He could mourn Keith later. Right now they _had_ to finish the job.

"Everyone, deploy your lion's extra power! Pidge, take engines! Lance, weapons! Hunk, shield generators! I'm going for the bridge! The second your target is down, go help someone else!"

They began tearing the command center apart. Pidge was the first to finish, taking out the engines with bursts of vines, and moved to help Lance at Kolivan's direction. Hunk was using Yellow's armor claws to slice apart the generators.

Shiro deployed the jawblades and began ripping through the ship's hull around the bridge, imagining that each blow was taking down another Galra soldier or druid. His face was wet with tears.

The explosions around the command center were growing. Kolivan's voice sounded through their helmets. "You're doing great—engines and shield generators are completely down!"

Coran's voice broke in. "Wait, what's that?"

Shiro looked around for the source of Coran's concern, then Hunk spoke up. "Whoa, incoming! Shiro, look out!"

The mental assault struck first, distracting him just long enough for the Black Lion to be seized in the claws of a new ro-beast. Shiro felt Black's power behind his own, throwing Zarkon out of his mind. Hunk careened into the ro-beast, breaking its hold on Black.

Shiro flew out of reach and got a good look at the threat. It was as big as Voltron but there was something different about it, the way it moved. And then Shiro saw the glowing purple sword form.

"Zarkon! That's Zarkon, everyone get over here and hit him with all you've got!"

Lance's sonic cannon fired, but Zarkon's reflexes were too quick—he sent a bolt of purple energy from the sword at the Blue Lion before the cannon's effects could hit him and knocked Lance into a tailspin that needed all his attention to control.

Pidge had better luck briefly: as Zarkon brought up a shield against her first shot, she fired again immediately, binding the shield in place for a few seconds. Hunk grabbed the opportunity and head-butted from behind, sending Zarkon crashing into the hull of the command center.

Another mental blast rocked Shiro and this time Zarkon was going after him directly instead of through his bond with Black.

 _You insignificant fool! Do you truly believe you can win? Your fifth is missing…_

Shiro cried out as the attack cut deeper and Zarkon seized on his discovery.

 _Your fifth is dead! You will never form Voltron again! Surrender and I might spare the puny lives of the rest of your team!_

Images of Keith flooded his thoughts. The almost feral reaction when Shiro met him for the very first time, pulling some fellow eighth-graders off the tiny fifth-grader. Bringing him home to his mother to get cleaned up so he wouldn't get in trouble at the group home. The friendship that formed over the next several years. Keith following him to the Garrison and finding his true calling as a pilot. The gradual tilt from friends to exploring the possibility of more. The look on Keith's face the night before Shiro departed for Kerberos, when Shiro almost asked him for a commitment and hesitated. Waking up to see Keith leaning over him instead of a swarm of Garrison medtechs. The red-armored figure emerging from Black's jaws after driving away the pack of giant lizards. Keith's anguished cry as not-Shiro walked away from him during the Blade of Marmora's trials…

And suddenly Black was there. Black was him and he was Black. He was dimly aware that Zarkon had pushed back the other lions and was turning toward him.

They moved as one. Shiro and Black went straight at Zarkon and _shifted_ as the wings unfurled, sending them into the astral plane.

Shiro charged Zarkon, who was completely unaware of his approach on this plane. He spotted the bayard in Zarkon's hand, snatched and held on, and moved through…

They _shifted_ back into reality and Shiro inhaled sharply when he saw the bayard in his hand, morphing away from Zarkon's jagged edges to the smooth finish of the others.

"What was that?"

"What happened?"

"What did you do?"

"I…I've got Zarkon's bayard!"

 _You mean YOUR bayard!_

Shiro shook his head, trying to tamp down the reprimanding thought in Keith's voice.

"Come on, everyone attack at once! We're running out of time! On my mark, hit him with everything you've got!"

They surrounded Zarkon, herding him against the command center, and Shiro shouted, "Now!"

Mouth cannons and tail guns fired. Vines erupted and a sonic wave washed over Zarkon. Shiro launched Black into the astral plane once more and brought up the bayard. It morphed into a double-sided battle axe. Shiro swung it sideways with all his might and felt it hit home before Black pulled him back.

They emerged on the other side of the command center. Shiro could hear the others calling retreat and flew around.

"What is it?"

"He's going nova! Stay out of the way!" Lance's voice was shrill.

Shiro headed toward the Castle. "Everyone, inside the particle barrier!"

The others obeyed and braced themselves as the shockwave rattled them. Shiro could just see a clump of wreckage around a body, floating near the command center, motes of glowing energy rising and winking out of existence.

"Paladins, we need to get out of here!"

"But Keith!" Hunk's voice was shaky.

"He's gone. I saw the explosion." Lance's voice held utter defeat.

"You don't know that he was in that!" Pidge protested. "Keith! Come in, Keith! Please!" Her voice rose to a desperate scream.

Shiro's throat hurt from holding in his grief, but he managed to keep his voice steady. "Kolivan's right. There's nothing we can do for Keith now. The ship's power is going to come back any minute. Allura, activate the wormhole! Team, get to your bays!"

As the Castle dove into its wormhole, lights began emerging on the Galra ships.

* * *

As the team entered the command deck, Kolivan approached and held out his arm. Shiro grasped it, hands to elbows, and Kolivan laid his other hand on Shiro's shoulder.

"He will be remembered. He honored the title of Paladin."

Shiro nodded, not trusting himself to speak without breaking down. Pidge and Hunk had pulled their helmets off and were hugging each other as they cried. Lance was standing apart, his hands pressed to his face. Allura was sobbing in Coran's arms and the adviser had a sickly pallor. Slav was curled up in Keith's chair, showing a look of fierce concentration.

"Antok and I will return to headquarters and conduct our ritual for the fallen. You are all welcome to join us."

Shiro's thoughts were scattered. Was there an Altean mourning process? Would Pidge, Hunk, and Lance prefer an Earth-style funeral? There was no one else on Earth itself that would miss Keith, other than Shiro's parents and a couple of Garrison friends. They, the Voltron team, were really all the family Keith had.

"I…yes. I would like to join you, at least. I'll ask the others."

Kolivan nodded. "Let's go as soon as the princess can transport us."

* * *

Hours later, after working to calm everyone else down, Shiro finally dragged himself toward his own room. He paused at Keith's door. It wasn't a good idea—he knew it wasn't a good idea—but he laid his hand on the control and the door slid open.

He and Keith had set their doors to open for one another after they had run into each other wandering the castle halls a few nights running. Shiro, of course, was avoiding the nightmares. Keith was suffering from a constant state of hyper-alertness, unable to sleep for more than a couple hours at a time for fear that he wouldn't be ready if they were attacked. The first time they went to Shiro's room and just sat on his bed, reminiscing together, had been a revelation. They might not have gotten any more sleep that night, but they both felt better for the company. They began staying together, alternating rooms, until about an hour before the others were up.

Within the week they had been able to sleep for several hours at a time, curled up together. Shiro was fairly certain that the only ones who had noticed were Pidge (because of her own erratic hours) and the mice, which meant Allura probably knew.

Now he entered Keith's room and looked around. Neither of them had accumulated much in the way of possessions, unlike Lance and his trove of self-care products or Pidge and her tech. The only sign that the room had been occupied was Keith's jacket, lying on the neatly-made bed.

He sat and picked up the jacket. He tried to concentrate on the feel of it; both hands registered the soft, supple leather but in his left hand it had a silky quality that the right hand simply could not match. Keith's scent mingled with the leather: the musk of his skin, the vanilla-tea scent of some Altean shampoo he had found. It felt unreal that Keith would never wear this jacket again, never walk in the door to this room again.

Denial was the first stage of working through grief. Shiro drew his legs up and huddled on Keith's bed, clasping the jacket to his chest, denying with every sob that escaped his throat that Keith was dead.

* * *

Five days later, the Blade of Marmora was ready to conduct their ritual.

The ritual had two purposes. The first was to honor those Blades that had died in the fight against Zarkon. The second was to recall the actual blades with a magical rite so they could be passed on to new members.

Antok led Shiro to a display of daggers mounted on a wall. He pointed to one. "This was Ulaz's blade. It awaits its new wielder."

"I don't understand. If you conduct these rituals and get the weapons back, how did a blade end up staying with Keith? As far as he knows, his mother was the one with a Galra connection and she died."

"We cannot be sure. Of course we cannot conduct the ritual if we are not aware that a Blade has fallen. And even if we did, if the knife was properly passed down it would have a new wielder and would not return."

"Do you keep records when that happens? When you try to recall a knife and it doesn't come? That might point toward Keith's connection to the Galra."

"We do. It is worth exploring, if it matters to you."

Shiro paused. Did it matter? Keith was dead and learning his exact ancestry from the Galra would not change that.

Kolivan spoke up from the center of the room. "We are ready."

Antok brought Shiro back to the others. "You may stand here. Please do not speak or move until we say it is safe."

Allura's eyes narrowed at that but she held her peace. She was dressed in a formal gown, a crown holding her hair up in an elegant bun. Coran was also in dress uniform but the Paladins were in their armor. The team stood at parade rest while several Blades joined Kolivan in a circle.

Shiro had not known what to expect, but singing was definitely not it. The Blades chanted, the tones moving up and down in a pattern reminiscent of old Earth Gregorian chants. The Blades forming the circle raised their hands slowly, until they were reaching for the stars through the glass dome above them. About half of those in the circle had light dancing from their fingers.

As Shiro watched, a beacon of light formed in the center of the room. It brightened to a near-painful intensity before vanishing, leaving in its wake a long, thin, elegant dagger lying on the floor.

The chant ended and Kolivan looked at the blade in confusion. A few of the other Blades began to murmur.

"What? What is it?" Allura demanded in a sharp tone.

"Where's Keith's blade?" Shiro asked.

"I…I don't know! The ritual always recalls the blade when the warrior has died."

Pidge's eyes were wide as saucers. "But if his blade didn't come back, that means he's alive!"

Shiro felt a wave of dizziness at the sudden warring emotions of grief and hope and horror.

 _"_ _Keith! What's your status?"_

 _"_ _Almost there! I—" Something cutting off Keith's voice._

"The Galra have him! We've got to get him back!"

Antok stepped forward. "Paladins! Stop, think! We need to make a plan. And we need more information to make a successful plan."

Allura looked at him, her gaze sharp and brittle. "Caution, again? How long will it take to get this information?"

Antok turned to Kolivan. "We need to activate Davrith."

Kolivan stared in surprise. Another Blade spoke up. "Are you serious, Antok? Davrith has been a sleeper agent for decafeebs. You would expose her now? For one person?"

"For the Red Paladin, a member of the Voltron Force and a fellow Blade. Someone whose actions have already helped take down Zarkon and whose presence is necessary to finish dismantling his empire. Yes, I say we activate Davrith."

Shiro stepped forward. "Who's Davrith? And what can we do to help?"

* * *

The first step was to verify the location of the command center. Allura opened wormholes and sent Pidge to scout in a cloaked Green Lion. She found a colossal amount of debris forming a new trash nebula at the site of the initial attack and some scattered wreckage in the Yggiz Galaxy, but no Galra. Kolivan put the word out among the network of Blades to report the minute there was a confirmed location for the emperor's command center.

The second step was activating the sleeper agent. Kolivan explained that many in their ranks who did not succeed in waking a blade chose this option as soon as they reached the age of majority. Their memories as Blades would be locked away and they would be inserted into Galra societies with carefully-constructed false identities. The Blade of Marmora kept watch on what happened to them and, when they were in a position to aid in some major plan, awoke their memories.

Shiro looked up at Kolivan when he paused in his explanations. "I take it that this agent is particularly valuable? You were shocked that Antok would even suggest using her."

"That is true. Antok's sense of caution is extreme, even for one of our rank. But it is also the fastest way to retrieve Keith. She became a druid in the Komar, Haggar's coven."

Shiro's mouth fell open at that.

"Exposing her means that Haggar will almost certainly know of our existence, although it's possible that she already has an idea because of Thace. But Zarkon is down, almost certainly dead, and now is a prime opportunity to strike from as many sides as possible. I would have suggested using Davrith if Antok hadn't."

"If you activate her, can she communicate where the command center is?"

For a long moment Kolivan stared at Shiro and he began to feel nervous. Had he overstepped a line somehow?

"Kolivan?"

"I can't believe I didn't think of that."

* * *

So, now I will point everyone to the story that inspired me to write this: "Believe Me, For a Little While" by unalignedant over on AO3. I've always loved the trope of a character trapped in a virtual reality situation (wrote it into the very first fic I shared online, a Harry Potter thing from 15 years ago that stalled after 18 chapters) and Voltron makes it easy with its combination of science and magic. I do encourage everyone to go read unalignedant's story - it's very good.

Thank you as always for reading!


	4. Interlude 2: Davrith

Disclaimer: Not my characters (well, this one is, but most are not). Playing in Dreamworks' sandbox.

Note: I'm on Twitter and Tumblr under "avidbeader". Come say hi!

* * *

Centuries of refinement by the Blade's scientists had made the activation process ridiculously simple. Davrith had gone to sleep the night before a loyal member of the Komar. She woke with her full memories of her life up to becoming a sleeper agent as well as those of her life since then.

And because she was _quiznaking_ brilliant, she knew immediately why she had been activated.

The Blade intended to rescue the paladin.

Davrith rose and began the morning routine established by the Komar: meditation, a short magical ritual to revitalize one's power, and then going over the briefings from the commanders. Many Komar downloaded such briefings onto portable devices, including herself. She added schematics of the command center that included what still needed repair after the last attack, their location and current known itinerary for the next several days, and what little information on the prisoner Haggar had allowed to be public.

She used her device to assemble all the pertinent information into a single file, then transferred that file onto a chip. She slipped out of her quarters and down the long hallway to Bejar's room. It was still vacant after his untimely death from a Marmora blade in the back.

Davrith smiled as she used Bejar's station to transmit the file to Headquarters.

* * *

Davrith got herself assigned to monitor the paladin, through the simple step of volunteering. Haggar's attention was distracted as she tried to keep Zarkon alive and pacify the commanders who were less than friendly toward the Komar. She had even ordered them to fetch Prince Lotor as a diversion. The paladin was currently low on her list of priorities—he was trapped inside the iso-pod, immersed in the illusion, and presumably self-destructing on his own.

Her job was to keep him alive - Haggar needed his mind to give way but his body to remain stable. According to her, this would paralyze Voltron: the bond between the paladin and lion would remain unbroken but without him they could not form the enormous weapon. The lion would not actively seek a new paladin unless this one died.

The usual method of gas-borne nutrients pumped inside the chamber was fine for a Galra but dubious at best for this mostly unknown race—Haggar had never taken the opportunity to test it on Champion during the year he was within her reach. It seemed to be giving just enough sustenance to keep the paladin alive.

Davrith poked at the readout screen, looking for any information that might help her adjust the situation and get more nutrition into him. She scrolled down to an analysis of his physiology…

…and was very grateful that the hoods and masks the druids wore hid expressions. She had been unable to keep the shock from her face at seeing the words on the screen: this paladin had Galra genes. The majority of his genetic makeup matched up with Champion and the other two that had been captured with him, but he had Galra chromosomes as well. The analysis estimated that the cross-breeding had happened a few generations back.

Davrith immediately created a new database, moved the report to it, and locked it behind a personal code. Right now Haggar's focus was on keeping Zarkon alive. If she learned this information, she would tear the youth apart investigating the possibilities, Voltron be damned.

She looked through the glass at him. There was very little to see, as he was still in full armor, all the grapnels linking him to the pod going through the black undersuit at his neck and back. His eyes were closed, a few locks of hair tumbling over the fair skin of his face. Davrith could just make out the hilt of a blade, shoved down between one cuisse and his leg. She wondered at the story behind _that_ : how had a paladin of Voltron arrived at the status of Blade?

She debated, briefly. She had asked about disarming him before sealing him in the iso-pod, but Haggar had been too intent on making the transfer from the containment net before his link to his lion could be re-established. It was tempting to release him and let him wreak havoc because Haggar had made a mistake.

Tempting, but too risky. One paladin against a dozen druids, scores of Galra soldiers, and hundreds of sentries was laughable odds, even if he were at full strength.

The Blade of Marmora would have a plan, especially if they were working with the other paladins. The first attack had been a master-stroke. If they could repeat that success, they would be able to rescue their comrade easily.

She simply needed to be ready to assist at a moment's notice.

* * *

Thank you as always for reading!


	5. Part 3: Shiro II

**Disclaimer:** If you recognize the character, it's not mine. Just playing in Dreamworks' sandbox.

 **Reminder:** I'm on Twitter and Tumblr as avidbeader. Come say hi!

* * *

Shiro studied the updated plans of Zarkon's command center from the agent, noting just how deep inside the red dot showing Keith's location was. He was in a constant state of low terror at the thought of Keith in Haggar's hands, remembering bits and pieces of his own torture. The need to get to him before she could do any permanent damage gnawed at Shiro. What if she discovered he was part Galra? How would that change her tactics? Would it make it easier or harder for her to brainwash him the way she had tried with Shiro?

Pidge watched him from her station, reading his turmoil easily from his posture and expression.

"Is there any chance of replicating the virus attack? That would give us a huge advantage."

Shiro shook his head, grateful for the distraction of conversation to pull him out of his own head. "We can't count on it working again. We have to assume that Zarkon's programmers came up with a defense for it. Plus, we don't have any way to get the codes to this Davrith."

"You and I could take Green and sneak aboard. Or one of the Blades could come with me."

Shiro paused at that. "You have a point. Maybe. What I'd really like to do is find a way to boost the Blue Lion's sonic attack so it could take out the bigger target and leave it down for longer."

"Have you asked Lance about it?"

"Not yet. He's still dealing with his misplaced guilt over assuming Keith was dead because he saw the explosion and jumped to conclusions."

"Conclusions that the Galra wanted us to jump to."

Shiro dragged his hands down his face. "I know. But Lance isn't listening yet."

The doors slid open and Kolivan entered. He wasn't smiling but had an air of satisfaction about him.

Pidge tilted her head. "You look like the cat that ate the canary."

Kolivan's eyebrows knit together as he tried to parse her statement. "Is that good?"

"She means that you look like you have good news. Do you?"

Now Kolivan's mouth quirked up at the corners. "Yes. We have a contact who deals with highly specialized chemicals. He has reported an order placed by a Galra commander at the center for a very specific gaseous compound that is used to provide sustenance for someone encased in an isolation unit."

"Sustenance…for a prisoner?" Pidge caught on immediately.

"An isolation unit? That could explain why Red didn't go after him! She can't find him!" Shiro pounded one fist on his console. His spirits lifted; if Haggar was keeping Keith trapped inside such a unit to block his bond with Red, then she wasn't raking him with lightning attacks or vivisecting him.

"And…we have a way to deliver the code to Davrith, if Slav can alter the virus enough to guarantee that it will work again." Kolivan's face showed a proper smile at this.

* * *

Slav came through in a big way. Shiro told himself he would never, ever lose patience with the troubled Bitor again.

The initial thought of getting the virus code to Davrith through the delivery of the gas tanks was immediately shot down by Allura.

"We have no way of communicating with her that it will be there and no way of knowing what kind of scanners they might be using to screen the delivery. We have to think of something else."

"Elves!" Slav shouted.

"Uh, no. She said 'else'." Lance tried to reason with the suddenly excited scientist. Slav ignored him and began leaping around the room.

"Computer elves! Tiny, tiny computer elves that will crawl everywhere and shut down everything when we say so! There's over an eighty-eight percent chance that it will take down the entire ship if we give them a _quintant_ to work!"

Antok stepped over to Slav and laid one hand on his head. To Shiro's astonishment, Slav immediately calmed down.

 _I have to remember that trick…_

"Please explain, Slav. And talk as if you were telling Borot." Antok's tone made it clear that Borot, whoever he was, was not very bright.

But all Slav had to do was say, "Nanites!" and Pidge was on her feet as well.

"Yes! That's perfect!"

"Nanites?" Allura looked lost.

Pidge bobbed her head eagerly. "They're super-tiny machines, like microscopic computers! We can plant them on the delivery and activate them once they're inside! They'll multiply and spread throughout the entire ship and on our command will dismantle anything we tell them to! We'll be able to walk in the front door totally unopposed!"

Slav waved multiple arms. "And if we vary the attacks the nanites can cause and set them to deploy in waves, we might even have _vargas_ of time to work with!"

Hope rose in Shiro's chest. "Pidge, you and Hunk work with Slav to get these nanites ready. Allura, would you contact the Olkari and see if they might be able to help them? Lance, work with Blue to see if you can get any more strength into your sonic canon as backup. Kolivan and I will set things up with his contact. Coran, we need the Castle's teludav in perfect working order for a fast getaway."

He looked around. "Is everyone clear?" He got a round of nods. "Then let's get our Red Paladin back!"

* * *

They approached the Galra command center from the other side of a red giant star, stationing the Castle out of view in the atmosphere of one of the system's gaseous planets. Coran and Allura had prepared the teludav to allow up to three wormhole jumps without her presence. Shiro waited with Pidge in the Green Lion's cockpit. Hunk, Lance, and Antok would take one of the cloaked pods. Allura and Kolivan were in the other.

Shiro drew in a deep breath. "Slav, we're in position."

"Activating Operation Elves!"

As they watched on monitors, lights began winking out and the command center gradually went dark. Pidge gripped Shiro's hand briefly before guiding the cloaked Green Lion in toward a large landing bay. He gripped back, then let go so she would have both hands to land.

 _"_ _I'm coming in hot!"_

Shiro shook the memory from his head. They had to stay focused. "Team Alpha is in position."

Hunk's voice responded, "Team Beta is ready."

Allura finished, "Team Gamma is in position."

"All right. Move in and head for the Komar lab."

* * *

They met no resistance at first. The metal bodies of deactivated sentries littered the hallways, but there was no sign of any Galra soldiers. Pidge connected her vambrace interface to a console long enough to send a command to the nanites: _Open all doors and lock them in place_.

Moving freely through the pitch-black corridors with the help of the night vision setting in their visors, they worked their way in. Things had been going smoothly long enough for Pidge to get careless and she moved into the next hallway without checking it closely.

A purple energy bolt just missed her and Shiro yanked her back. Laser fire came from the other end of the hall and they heard Lance yell, "All clear!"

* * *

When the lights suddenly went out, Davrith reacted instantly. She slapped one hand on the control panel for the iso-pod, sending magic into the unit to maintain its power. A few other quick-thinking druids raised their hands, casting faint light around the lab.

Haggar looked at them, then tried to raise the commanders. When she got no response, she gasped. "The emperor! He'll be defenseless!" Her gaze swept around the lab, nodding approvingly at Davrith. "Yes. You and Kalech stay here and guard the paladin. Everyone else, come with me!" Puffs of inky smoke erupted as the rest of the Komar vanished.

Davrith shifted so she could change hands, ostensibly leaving her dominant hand free in case of an attack but also taking the chance to incrementally lower the power levels. That might give the paladin a bit of awareness to his true surroundings and make it easier to pull him from the illusions that trapped him.

After several tense minutes, they heard rifle fire coming from nearby. Kalech headed for a communications panel and tried to activate it. She counted fifteen ticks, waiting for him to get heavily involved in trying to call for help, then summoned her power.

Lightning shot across the lab and engulfed the unsuspecting druid, turning him into a pile of dust on the floor.

* * *

At the next turn they found Allura, shifted into a Galra appearance, with Kolivan. Allura had managed to obtain a guard uniform. The leader of the Blades indicated the upcoming left turn. "That's the entrance to the lab."

Shiro nodded at Allura to try first as they had planned. She strode into the open doors and called out, "You there! We need support at the bridge!"

The response was an instant magical attack. The paladins cried out at seeing Allura hit. But before any of them could get a shield up and intercept, a vivid aura formed around her.

Everyone paused. A lone druid halted the attack and tilted their head, watching as Allura looked in shock at her glowing hands and arms. Shiro shot toward the druid, intent on taking them down before they could pull their vanishing act.

Pidge raced with him, her speed making up for his longer legs. Then she skidded to a halt as she spotted just who was inside the chamber that the druid seemed to be guarding. She screamed, "Keith! Keith!"

Shiro swung and overbalanced in surprise as the druid did not vanish but ducked instead, keeping one hand planted in place on the apparatus. Shiro grabbed their free hand with his human hand and twisted the arm up, forcing them to bow. He held his Galra hand, glowing magenta, toward their face. "Back away from him!"

"I can't if you want him to live. I am the only thing keeping this pod powered right now, and we can't set him free until I've had a chance to disengage it properly."

Shiro eased up the pressure at those words. "Davrith?"

"Yes."

Shiro let go immediately as the others gathered around, Lance and Hunk facing the doors. The druid used her free hand to remove the mask covering her face and pull her hood back, revealing a Galra with sharp features and a long mane of hair. "Hello, Kolivan."

"Hello. You've done well here."

She shrugged, her lips curving into a smile.

Shiro gestured at the pod. "How fast can you get Keith out of there?"

"Not fast enough to do it here. Pulling him out of the illusion too quickly could destroy his mind."

"Illusion?" The relief that Shiro had felt in learning that Keith wasn't being physically tortured turned to dread. He remembered Haggar's mental assault on him during Allura's rescue, being attacked by an evil mirror of himself…

Davrith nodded. "She didn't tell us what she did, only that it was designed to drive him insane eventually, make him unfit for flying his lion without actually breaking their bond."

Allura noticed his expression. "Shiro, we're going to get him out!" She turned to Davrith. "I take it we need to move the pod onto our ship?"

She pointed back to the hallways. "We need an antigrav runner, the biggest one possible. There should be some two hallways to the left in a cargo bay."

"Antok, you and Hunk get it."

"On it!" Hunk replied as the two of them headed for the doors.

"I can camouflage us as we move, but we need another way to keep this iso-pod powered."

Something flickered across Shiro's memory.

 _All you need is power?_

 _Yeah, but one that's compatible with Galra tech._

"I can do it."

She glanced down at his cybernetic arm and nodded. "Yes, your hand will work. Here!" She reached over, guiding him to lay the metal palm and fingers on the panel next to her hand. He activated the hand and she nodded.

"Between you, me, and the princess, we can keep it going until we get it to your ship." She stepped away and shrugged off the hooded robe, tossing it to the floor with the mask.

Kolivan watched. "I take it you're coming with us now that your cover is blown?"

"It might not actually be blown, if I can pull this off. Princess, I need your help."

Allura moved to stand beside her.

"I am going to funnel a bit of my quintessence into these, enough for Haggar to get a reading and be able to identify me. I need you to take that energy within you, what you just used to defend yourself, and turn it outward. Make it an attack—I want this uniform burned to a crisp."

Allura nodded. "This will suggest that you died trying to prevent us from rescuing Keith."

"Exactly."

She waited as Davrith sent waves of power into the robe and mask. When the agent lowered her hand, Allura reached in, looking for that same path to her inner self that she had used in the Balmera's rebirth. She focused a small part of that energy into her hands, then _shoved_ …

The clothing turned into ash before her.

Davrith nodded. "Consider this my notice, Haggar."

* * *

Shiro crouched next to the iso-pod, hand in place, riding the transport as the Blades and Hunk directed it toward the closest of the ships, Allura's pod. Pidge rode on the other side, trying to establish the iso-pod's parameters on her interface. Allura and Lance were on the front, ready to attack if they were detected. Davrith rode on the back, keeping up the illusion of empty hallways as they moved.

They reached the pod without incident. Allura took the pilot's seat with Kolivan next to her. They shifted the iso-pod into the hold, Shiro maintaining contact. He looked around and made a decision. "Allura, swing around to the landing bay where the Green Lion is. It'll be safer to circle the ship instead of going through it again. We don't know how much longer the nanites will keep their systems down. Pidge, you take everyone else around to the other pod for Lance and Hunk to pilot back."

Within a few minutes everyone was en route back to the castle. Shiro laid his free hand on the glass separating him from Keith. "We've got you. We're going to get you out of there."

Abruptly the pod rolled and Shiro was tossed to the side. As his cybernetic hand lost contact with the iso-pod, the lights flickered out, enveloping Keith in darkness.

"NO!" Shiro's body seemed to be all knees and elbows as he scrambled back, smacking his metal hand back onto the control panel and ramming power through the connection. The lights flared and inside the pod he could see Keith, his jaw clenched and the cords in his neck standing out as he strained against something.

 _No, no, please no!_

The pod veered again and Shiro braced himself into place.

"Allura, what's happening?"

"A Galra warship just came out of hyperdrive! I don't know how, but they can see through the cloaks! Pidge is on it—" Allura broke off to yell in joy, "Coran! Coran's bringing the Castle in!"

"Allura, your priority is to get inside that Castle now! Where's Davrith?"

"She's with us!" Lance replied.

"Head straight for the Castle—we need her to dismantle the iso-pod. Then get your lions and help Pidge. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Whoa! Nice shot, Pidge! I think she's got it covered, Shiro. She already vined up their engines and she just took out the ion cannon by firing vines into the hull _under_ the particle barrier! They tore it apart!"

"Yeah, I need just one more shot at the bridge—whatever their sensing capability is that ruined our invisibility is probably there. We don't want them to keep that."

"Bay doors are open for everyone! Hurry!" Coran shouted. "Wormhole is ready as soon as we're all on board!"

"Make sure you close the doors this time!" Hunk shot back.

* * *

They set the iso-pod up in the center of the cryo-room. Shiro peered in at Keith, who no longer looked like he was in pain, but had an expression of fear that had not been there before. Tears dampened his cheeks.

 _Soon, we're getting you out of there soon, I promise._

Davrith entered with the others and strode over to Shiro's side. She zeroed in on a line of code flashing and threw a sharp look at Shiro.

"When did you interrupt the connection?"

"Allura had to evade out there. The first time I wasn't expecting it and got tossed away from the pod. How bad is it?"

"Rather bad. I have no idea what interrupting the illusion might have done to his state of mind. I can still draw out the power behind the illusion itself, but his mind may have set up his own parameters and I have no way of reaching him without knowing them."

"Reaching his mind? Like connecting in each other's thoughts?" Pidge asked.

Davrith nodded.

"We can do that, can't we? We can use the mind-meld bands!"

Shiro brightened at that. "Yes! I'll do it! Coran, can you get those for us?"

Davrith waved at Allura. "We'll need you, princess. We have to maintain power until he's completely clear of the chamber. If he is going to connect mentally and I am detaching him from the pod, you need to keep power going. Place your hand here and channel your energy like you did before, but slowly and gently."

Allura let the Galra woman place her hand on the control next to Shiro's. She summoned the power within her and let it flow in a minute trickle into the machine.

Davrith laid her hand on top of Allura's. "Stronger. A little more. There, try to keep it steady." She pulled Shiro's hand away.

On her other side, Pidge and Hunk were talking a mile a minute about interfaces. Pidge asked Coran to bring the head of one of the training robots as well as two mind-meld devices and Hunk sent Lance out to fetch his toolbox.

The Blades were standing to one side, unsure of how to help. Davrith called them over. "Kolivan, look inside. Can you see the physical connections between the paladin and the pod?"

Kolivan leaned over and peered inside. "Yes. I see at least seven, maybe more links running from the panel behind him into his neck and back."

"I was afraid of that. This is going to take a while. Champi—Black Paladin?" He looked up at her. "If you're the one who will be entering a mind joining, I strongly suggest you take a few minutes to change from your armor. The more comfortable your body is, the easier it will be for you."

He looked through the glass at Keith, clearly reluctant to leave him even for a moment.

Davrith looked sympathetic, but insisted. "Shiro, was it? I mean it. Go, get changed and return."

Allura added, "That goes for the rest of you. Pidge, Hunk, you can set up your machine after Coran gets back."

* * *

Shiro would be lying if he said being out of his armor and back in his own clothes didn't make a difference. But he still seethed at the delay.

He entered to find Lance and Antok setting up one of the cushioned chairs from the observatory next to the iso-pod. Pidge and Hunk scurried in behind him, making a beeline for Coran as he arranged things.

Kolivan's voice carried over the activity. "That's five! Can you tell how many more?"

"Four more…" Davrith's voice sounded strained. "Shiro, get in place. You will enter the mind meld first, alone, as soon as I've got the next three anchors disconnected. Once you are fully immersed, you will be able to join with the first presence you detect. That will be Keith, as soon as these two finish getting the two machines to talk to one another.

"It may take quite an effort on your part. Keith may not believe that you're actually present. You're going to have to coax him back. As soon as you have full connection with him, I will disengage the last anchor between him and the pod. That should bring him back safely."

"I understand. Do it."

Coran placed the device on his head.

* * *

Thank you for reading!


	6. Interlude 3: Lotor

Disclaimer: If you recognize the character, it isn't mine. Just playing in Dreamworks' sandbox.

Reminder: I'm on Twitter and Tumblr under the same name. Come say hi!

* * *

Lotor, Prince of the Galra Empire, stalked past the protective line of soldiers, entering the chamber where Haggar stood guard over Zarkon as her druids powered his life support. He yanked off his helmet and tossed his head to shake his hair loose. "Well, _that_ was fun."

"You dare show such disrespect in the presence of your Emperor? The heir to the throne—"

"Is a meaningless title unless the old _kirtrab_ actually dies at some point! What is going on? Why is the command center completely powerless and what was a Voltron Lion doing flying away from here?"

Haggar stiffened at his words. "What are you talking about?"

"My ship arrived about twenty _doboshes_ ago, unable to raise any kind of response through the comms. Thanks to one of those Olkari engineers that Commander Mylok captured, we had a scanner that would detect ships through a number of camouflage functions. The scanner picked up three departing ships, a pair of transport pods and a Voltron Lion hidden by a new kind of cloaking shield, probably the Green Lion, judging from its attacks. It tore our ship apart and we had to escape in the lifepods."

The witch staggered as she realized the implications. "They were leaving?"

"Yes. That Altean support ship arrived to collect them all and they left through their teludav."

Haggar turned and ran out of the chamber, leaving behind a very confused and very irritated crown prince.

* * *

Lotor followed Haggar down to her laboratories, following the witch's handlight through the dark hallways. What had happened to completely paralyze the ship this time? The commanders under Zarkon promised that they had built defenses against another viral attack through the computers. Lotor made a mental note to have Hagrid's druids interrogate every single one of them and personally execute the ones responsible for this new failure.

As they approached yet another open door—all the doors were stuck in an open position, granting full access to the entire ship—Haggar shouted, "Kalech! Davrith!"

There was no answer. Haggar ran through the entrance to her lab and then stopped short. Lotor nearly ran into her from following so closely.

He looked around as Haggar sent brighter light splashing from her hands to illuminate the room and then darted to one side, falling to her knees. She sifted through a pile of ash with one hand and let out a scream of frustration.

"Haggar! What the _quiznak_ is going on?"

"They've retrieved the Red Paladin! We captured him, but they've taken him back!"

Lotor gave a haughty sniff. "Why not kill him immediately? That would have solved our Voltron problem!"

She stood, directing more light around the room and noting the second pile of ash. _Both of them, they managed to kill two druids. That's four gone in the last few quintants._ This new set of paladins had gotten dangerously skilled very quickly. It was the same adaptability that Champion had shown in the arena, surviving against all odds.

"You fool. If you kill the paladin, that frees the lion to take a new one. But separate them, damage the paladin just enough without killing him, and they are stuck in between."

"I see. Thank you for sharing that extremely valuable knowledge." Lotor's voice dripped with sarcasm before shifting to an authoritative tone. "Now, since they will be able to form Voltron again, we need to recover all ship functions and move away from this location as soon as possible. Summon your druids while I find and brief the commanders."

Haggar bowed her head before she realized she was doing so.

Lotor hid his smile with care. The situation was looking quite promising.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	7. Part 4: Keith II

And this is done! I may find an epilogue in me at some point, possibly, maybe. But thanks to everyone who has read it and left kudos and commented on it - I hope the ending satisfies.

* * *

Keith panicked for a moment before realizing he was still able to breathe. He looked around, seeing a vast, empty black landscape with a starry sky above.

 _The astral plane. This is how Shiro described it._

His consciousness was here, his body still in the pilot's seat of the Black Lion. In theory, anyway—he felt awfully solid and real as he took a few steps on the sandy black ground.

"Why here? Is Shiro here?" He spun around, looking in every direction for a sign of something other than the endless dark. "Black?"

But, like Red, Black was no longer present in his mind.

"No! Black, where are you?" Keith felt for the bond with every fiber of his being.

Nothing.

He fell to his knees, the isolation crashing down over him.

He was alone. He was trapped and utterly alone. Some leader he turned out to be.

"Shiro! Allura! Pidge! Anyone!"

There was no answer. He stood and tried to move a little farther, to see more, but the flat scenery showed no change at all.

He picked a direction and started running.

* * *

He slowed down when his heart was hammering in his chest, when pain shot through his side, and fell to his hands and knees.

Nothing around him had changed. The silver motes in the sky did not move. The ground beneath him suggested hills in the distance, ever out of his reach. Only the line of the horizon showed a faint purple.

Keith gulped in air, digging his fingers into the sand. He needed to feel something tactile, something solid. He looked around again, trying to estimate how far he might have run. It occurred to him that leaving the point of entry might have been a bad idea. He could follow his footprints back—

But there was no sign anywhere. He stood and turned, looking for any disturbance at all in the smooth, unbroken sand.

"Black…please…"

There was no response. The place where the bond had been was empty.

Keith collapsed onto the sand, his head in his hands. He was lost to the others.

Shiro was lost to him.

His tears fell and glowed on the sand, reflecting the faint starlight.

* * *

He had no sense of time at all. No clue how long he had been in this place, how long he had huddled here, weeping. The stars were frozen in their positions above. The horizon line remained a constant thread, neither brightening nor fading with the suggestion of a sun or moon to rise.

He was alone, again. As he had been for so much of his life. And this time it might be forever, until he died of starvation or thirst. If that could happen here. His thoughts turned toward his blade, resting in its sheath at his back. That was a possibility, a last resort…

 _Keith!_

His head snapped up at the voice.

 _Hang on, buddy!_

He looked around wildly. "Shiro! Where are you?"

 _Keith, you have to come to me. The mind-meld can only get me so far!_

He remembered the mind-meld practice Coran had put them through. Keith had been willing to share. Pidge had not; she had not yet confirmed her identity to everyone then.

Pidge, who was in a cryo-pod right now, who had almost died because he hadn't stuck to his guns as leader. He had known it was a dangerous plan but let Lance's accusations goad him into risking it anyway.

He curled up on his side, forehead to knees, squeezing his eyes shut. He was coming apart, hearing Shiro in this empty place.

 _Keith, please! Come to me!_

"You shouldn't have made me leader, Shiro. I'm no good at it. Lance hates me, I got Pidge hurt, Hunk doesn't trust me anymore."

 _I'll make it right. I swear I'll fix it all if you'll just come to me. I need you, Keith. I need you to come to me. Please!_

Keith opened his eyes and spotted a flash of white in the distance against the endless black. He tried to keep it in his line of vision, even as it winked in and out.

 _That's it! Come on, I'm here, find me!_

As Keith watched, the white shape approached and sharpened. It was Shiro. Shiro in his paladin armor, striding toward him.

"Shiro!" Keith shot to his feet and started running toward him. The white armor, Shiro's pale face, his shimmering eyes, everything stood out against the midnight-purple landscape.

"Shiro! I found you!"

 _We found you, Keith!_

Keith reached Shiro and flung his arms around him. He felt Shiro return the hug and buried his face against Shiro's shoulder, against the smooth white armor…

…the soft black cloth?

"I've got him! Do it!"

Before Keith could ask what he meant, the black landscape shattered into brilliant blue-white.

* * *

 _Keith was nearly to the exit, his jetpack on full blast._

 _"_ _The virus is up! All Galra systems are down!" Kolivan shouted in triumph._

 _"_ _Keith! What's your status?" Shiro's voice echoed in his helmet._

 _"_ _Almost there! I—"_

 _Keith's voice choked off as a net of purple energy appeared between him and his goal, wrapping around him and dragging him down. He drew breath to shout a warning to the others, but the net contracted, sending searing pain throughout his body, and he couldn't even scream. Dimly he heard a woman's rasping voice issue orders._

 _"_ _Keep it at the maximum level! It will prevent his lion from finding him until we can get him into an isolation pod!"_

Red! RED! Help me!

 _There was something in the way. He couldn't find Red anywhere in his mind. He tried to reach harder and the net around him flared again, sending him into oblivion._

* * *

 _They had done it. They had taken down Zarkon. But something was wrong: Shiro had not responded to them in any way since using his bayard to turn the sword into a tongue of flames._

 _Keith charged ahead of the others, desperate to get to Shiro, but they caught up as he climbed into the lion and opened the door to the cockpit._

 _The bayard rested in its slot._

 _The pilot's chair was empty._

 _There was no sign of Shiro._

* * *

Keith squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden onslaught of bright light, the sounds of many voices assaulting his ears.

"Quick, get him out of there!" Pidge's voice was shrill.

 _But Pidge was in a cryo-pod._

"We need him over here!" Allura whipcracked the command.

"Keith! You're back!" Lance hooted.

 _Why did Lance sound relieved?_

Keith felt himself being lifted by two sets of arms out of some kind of enclosure, then someone took a firmer grip as the other person let go.

"You got him?" That was Hunk.

"Yeah, I got him," Shiro replied.

 _Shiro! What's going on?_ Keith tried to call out, but he seemed to have no control of his body. He hung limp in Shiro's arms. Shiro moved with him several steps and then laid him down on a padded surface.

 _Where are we?_

As Shiro let him go, Keith tried to protest, tried to grab for Shiro and hold on, but his body would not respond. Someone pulled his helmet off. Hands were working on his armor, removing the hard shell pieces. He felt hands smooth his hair back before resting on his forehead and Allura's voice sounded from directly above him.

"You're safe now, Keith. We've got you. Let us sort it—we'll get rid of every last speck of that witch's contamination."

 _What? I wasn't in danger, Shiro was! What do you mean, contamination?_

An image blasted in, a net of purple energy surrounding him, and _now_ his body moved, jerking as agonizing pain raked through every muscle.

"Allura! What's happening?" Shiro's voice was alarmed.

"I'm not sure… Keith, it's over! Whatever you were seeing, it wasn't real! You're safe, we have you!"

"Sh-Sh-Shiro!"

A pair of hands seized one of his. "I'm here, Keith. We're all here!"

As suddenly as it started, the pain began to recede. Relief seemed to flow from Allura's hands through his head and shoulders and down, pushing the pain out.

"That's it. Just breathe, Keith. We're almost done."

With her words, another wave of energy passed through him, cool and soothing. And in its wake he felt the bond with Red fill him as she stirred, growling protectively as she wrapped her warm presence around his. He felt tears trickle from his eyes down his temples as he welcomed her back in.

Shiro's hands tightened around his and now Keith could squeeze back. He opened his eyes and found Allura leaning over him, surrounded by a glittery pink aura. He tried to look to the side and found Shiro standing next to him, one of the mind-meld bands on his head.

"Hey there." Shiro reached over and put one hand to Keith's face.

"Where…where were you?"

"I was right here."

No…you were…gone, missing. It's been weeks…"

Shiro traded glances with Allura, his eyes filled with worry. She carded her fingers through Keith's hair as she spoke.

"Keith, you were captured by Haggar in our last battle. She managed to block your bond with Red. We thought you'd been killed. If it hadn't been for the Blade of Marmora, we might never have realized you were still alive."

"But… Which battle? Shiro was missing… I had to try and lead the team…"

A new voice spoke up. "The witch imprisoned you in an isolation chamber. The device was invented to aid those suffering from insanity or psychotic episodes by projecting calming surroundings. But she used its function to trap you in an illusion, feeding off your own worst fears."

Keith looked for the source of the voice and recoiled slightly at the sight of an unfamiliar Galra. Shiro steadied him.

"It's all right! She's with the Blade! Her name is Davrith. She helped us get that chamber off the command center before we tried to break you out—Haggar had it set pretty deep into your mind, there was no way we could get you out safely there."

Keith swallowed and tried to look sorry for his reaction. Davrith smiled at him. "You're forgiven, Paladin. Now, we will need to get you into a proper healing pod to check your status. You've been sustained by an airborne substance being pumped into the pod and it wasn't a good fit for a human." She began pulling one of his boots off.

"Ah…not human…"

She looked up, amusement filling her yellow eyes. "Of course you are. I'd say you were one-eighth Galra at best, somewhere in the great-grandparent range, based on the readings I saw. I hid them; otherwise Haggar would have picked up on it and pursued it. It made dismantling the grapnels in the iso-pod very tricky because your physiology is more human than Galra. One of them was very close to severing a major artery in your throat and another was embedded in your spine."

Keith blinked as she continued to chat and help get the last of his armor off, occasionally giving advice to Allura, who was still leaning over him, sending the cool energy through every cell in his body.

Then he felt Shiro's lips against the back of his hand. They moved, his tongue darting out to touch Keith's skin for the briefest instant. Keith turned to look at him and found Shiro's eyes boring into him. He shifted, pressing Keith's hand to his cheek, and his lips moved again, silently. This time Keith could read them.

 _I love you._

Keith mouthed the words back. _I love you._

* * *

Reentry was hard.

It was a major focus in training to pilot spacecraft: mastering deceleration, achieving a trajectory that was not too steep or too shallow, juggling gravity and drag and lift. Reentry, even more so than take-off, was a bitch.

He spent hours trying to sort through it all, listening as everyone else filled him in on what had really happened. He had to resist the constant urge to check on Shiro, make sure he was still there. He walked on eggshells around Lance, not wanting to say or do anything that might trigger an argument. He couldn't stop looking at Pidge, at the shoulder where he remembered her being injured. When he couldn't take it anymore, he retreated to the training deck, taking out his frustrations on droid after droid.

And after hours of driving himself to exhaustion, he dragged himself into a hot shower, his mind still churning with conflicting information.

 _Maybe if I talk to them. Explain what happened to them where I was. If I can apologize, maybe then I'll feel like I've put it behind me._

* * *

It took a while for Keith to find Pidge because, for once, she was in her room instead of some other part of the castle. He knocked at the door and was greeted by a tart, "I said no, Hunk!"

"It's Keith."

"Oh, that's all right, then." The door slid open for him, showing Pidge sitting cross-legged on her bed and typing at light speed on her laptop.

"What's the matter with Hunk?"

"Oh, he wants to borrow this for something but I told him I need it to finish the plans for the cloaking devices. I want to make the harmonics cycle through stages, so even if the Galra have a way to see through the original version, it'll only last a few seconds before the cloak shifts to something they can't see through. But it'll take dozens of variations to be effective—"

"Pidge!"

She broke off and looked up at him. "Oh. Sorry." She set the laptop aside. "What's up?"

Keith drew a deep breath, unsure where to start.

Pidge tilted her head at him and patted the bed beside her.

He sat, still not meeting her eyes. His gaze drifted to her shoulder again, where the armor had been torn apart by a Galra rifle.

"I just…I just wanted to make sure you were okay. When I was…imprisoned in that illusion, you and I snuck onto a Galra ship and tried to find more information about your dad's location. I was fighting off too many sentries and a Galra shot you. I know up here—" he tapped his temple "—that you didn't get hurt. But I'm having a hard time convincing my gut."

She reached up and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "It's okay. I'm here and I'm fine and, if you need to hear it from me to believe it, I'll shout it from the castle towers."

He nodded. "Thanks."

They both sat back and Pidge's fingers strayed toward her laptop again. "How did you do it?"

"Hm?"

"Getting more information? What was the plan?"

"Um, you came to me all excited because you thought you had enough records to predict the number I.D. system for the prisoners. We were trying to use numbers based off Shiro's to find specific ones to search—" Keith broke off, alarmed at the sudden look of wild joy on Pidge's face.

"Oh, my god, Keith! That's brilliant! You're brilliant!" She launched forward, grabbing his head and planting a kiss on one cheek, then the other. "We've got to go talk to Shiro, get his number, set up a sorting program…" She slapped her laptop shut and jumped to her feet. "Come on!" She seized his hand and dragged him from the room.

* * *

Keith finally found Lance alone in the room with the sunken couches, sprawled on his back and fiddling with Pidge's pocket tablet.

Keith sat across from him. "Does Pidge know you've got that?"

Lance shrugged. "She'll tell me if she wants it. She always does."

Keith felt Lance's attitude was rude, along with his habit of borrowing things without asking. He supposed it was the difference in their upbringing: foster kids learned fast to always, always ask permission before touching anything. In contrast, Lance had grown up with a large family and apparently it was standard practice to take what you wanted but be ready to give it up.

Lance glanced over at him. "Did you need something?"

"I…I wanted to apologize."

Lance frowned and sat up, putting the tablet aside. "Unless you're about to make amends for that offensive hairstyle and get some scissors, I can't think of anything you need to apologize for. It wasn't your fault you got captured."

"No. I mean…you're right, about the getting captured part."

Lance snorted at Keith jumping ahead of his next quip and let him continue instead.

"It's just…I didn't do a very good job of leading, when I thought I had to take over for Shiro. You were always arguing with me and I couldn't find a way to make you understand."

"Whoa, wait. You're trying to apologize for something that _never happened?_ Keith, you do fine when you need to lead! Who took charge when we had to save Shiro and Pidge from that first ro-beast? Who was the only one brave enough to state the obvious about going after Allura? Who was able to get Hunk through the guts of a giant alien without him throwing up once?"

Keith cracked a smile at that.

"So no, no apology. I absolutely refuse to accept it because it's not necessary. We may not always get along, but we've always gotten ourselves together for the team. Comprendes?"

"Um…yes?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "Now, about those scissors…"

"Hell, no!" Keith jumped to his feet and vaulted over the couch, avoiding Lance's grab for him. They both laughed as Lance chased him down the hall.

* * *

"Eight days."

Shiro nodded as Keith repeated that bit of information in a flat voice.

"Eight days."

Shiro reached over and took Keith's hand. They were alone in Red's hangar, facing one another as they each sat on a claw on one enormous front paw.

"How long did it feel?"

"Weeks…maybe months. We ran all kinds of strike-and-run attacks on Galra ships. And then Lance did something colossally stupid and when I called him on it the whole leadership thing blew up in everyone's face. It was terrible: Hunk stuck by Lance because they've been best friends forever and for whatever reason Coran sided with them. Pidge and Allura were on my side. It was a wonder that we could keep it together long enough to fight the Galra."

"You do realize it would be different if it were real? Haggar set up that chamber to reflect your worst fears. It wasn't really them, just figments of your imagination acting on the most negative possibilities. You do have it in you to be a strong leader."

"Really, Shiro? Because those fights with Lance felt real. They felt like things he'd say if he got angry enough and _he wouldn't listen to me_. Just like he didn't listen when I tried to apologize—"

"Because you had nothing to apologize for."

"And I got Pidge hurt! I knew her plan was risky and let Lance push me into going for it just to prove I wasn't a hypocrite. She almost died, Shiro. She almost died because of me."

"You came close to dying because of my plan."

"What?"

Shiro took Keith's other hand. "Kolivan called it a suicide mission, remember? For whatever reason, Haggar chose to keep you alive. She could have easily killed you instead. Was that my fault?"

"No! Shiro, anything can go wrong—"

"Exactly. Anything can go wrong at any time. Lance doesn't blame me or anyone else on the team for getting caught in a bomb blast. I don't blame Allura or the team for the time I ran into Haggar again and she wounded me." He squeezed Keith's hands. "Part of leadership is accepting that not everything is going to work out and finding ways around it when things go pear-shaped. And again, it wasn't real. It was her illusion."

Keith swallowed hard. "It all felt real. And it worked the way Haggar wanted it to. I'm afraid of not being able to get them to function as a team. I'm afraid of screwing up and getting someone hurt. I'm afraid of losing you—" he paused and looked away "—and I'm afraid of being left alone."

"But you're not alone. We're all here."

"It's like…it's like here and now feels less real than the other. It was so easy to believe the other."

Red growled a little, making them look up at her glowing golden eyes. The growl echoed in Keith's chest as she gently scolded him. Shiro chuckled.

"She's right, you know. You need to believe in the positive things about yourself. You are a brilliant pilot. You are a stellar fighter. You are better at helping others and leading others than you think. You are smart and resourceful and quick. You have a big, red, mechanical mother hen who will always come after you as long as she can sense you." The amused purr made the paw they were sitting on vibrate and Keith felt Red's support reverberate through the bond.

Shiro slid off his perch and moved to stand in front of Keith, leaning into him between his legs. "But I understand being afraid. I've been afraid plenty of times in my life, and not just because of the Galra." He ran his hands up Keith's thighs to settle on his hips. "I let fear get the better of me at times. And one time, it was a huge mistake." He leaned forward and Keith felt his heart jump to his throat, realizing what Shiro was referring to. "I wanted to ask you to wait for me, even though we'd only been dating a few months. And I didn't."

"I would've said yes," Keith whispered.

"What do you say now?" Shiro brought his face closer, hovering just out of reach.

"What do you think?" Keith slid his hands around Shiro's neck, pulling him in.

* * *

Thank you as always for reading! I'd love to know what you think in a review!


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